A blog by students at the University of Portsmouth

Keep calm and canter on…

Another one of my (many) activities at university is horse riding. I first sat on a horse at the age of just 4 and haven’t looked back since.

Having ridden at Brawlings Farm at home (shout out to all the Brawlings Girls reading this!!) I was keen to make some new equestrian friends and have some fun doing something I really enjoy. Not only is being on a horse great exercise, being around horses is great “horse therapy” for those days when things are stressful!

One of my first lessons at Brawlings Farm! 🙂

As part of the Equestrian society we ride at Shedfield, a riding school near southampton. Lessons are organised in terms of ability and I am in the canter group, though there are one off jumping lessons and gymkhana lessons as well!

I attended the taster session and got to meet lots of other lovely equestrians who I now get to see on a regular basis. I rode a pony called “Cherry” and really enjoyed having my first canter at Portsmouth. Cherry is quite forward going (or speedy for those of you who don’t ride) and you have to really use your seat and sit deeper in order to get a nice transition from canter to trot. I also met some lovely people who enjoy riding just as much as I do! It was great to make friends in different years and to see everyone ride. (They are all very good!!)

Since the taster session I have gone riding a fair few times and have come to love the ponies at Shedfield just as much as the ponies at home!

Here are some photos of the ponies I have ridden at Shedfield. Keep your eyes peeled on this page as I will be adding more as and when I go riding!

Cherry-Taster day

Nervously jumping Morlie after falling off Rover 😛

This photo came from the introduction to jumping day! Unfortunately I fell off another pony called Rover. Rover and I were going over some trotting poles (or just poles on the ground for anyone non-horsey) and he got a bit excited, cantered, and then threw in a buck for good measure. (Translated into english…he got fast and I fell off..) Falling off does scare me but you learn to get back on and get on with it. My back was pretty painful after and I went to the doctors and found out I had injured my lumbar region. After a pretty painful week I was back on ponies!

Cantering Bella!

The video below is of me jumping my favourite pony called Trigga at my yard at home. Just so you can see me jumping! My position still needs work but I am improving in my jumping and hope to continue to improve! There is also a video of me cantering Cherry from Shedfield on taster day. Having paid my student membership I was allowed to canter and just kept going round and round basically!

I would like to say a huge thank you to all my friends in equestrian society especially Carys and Jess for calming me down when I fell off and always giving me confidence to improve! I would also like to say a massive thank you to everyone at Brawlings Farm who have never stopped believing in me and for giving me confidence boosts when I need them most!!

Hope you have enjoyed this blog and videos about my riding at University! I will keep this page updated so come back soon for more photos/videos and updates!! 🙂